Am I a Shady Landlady?

[Julie Marquez]

All of our rental agreements are month to month. To incentivize people to stay longer, we charge a move in fee that can be added forwards the refundable deposit if they stay over a year. Example: rent is $1000, move in fee is $400, refundable deposit is $600. Tenant moves out after 11 months, he can get the max of $600 back. Tenant moves out after 12 months, he can get the max of $1000 back.

Being month to month agreement, I can raise the rent on my tenant with just 30 days notice. So, in theory, I could get a new tenant, raise the rent by $1000 on month 2, they decide to leave because it's so expensive, and now I can keep their move in fee! I have never done that - but the concept sounds so wrong to me.

In real life, I just raised the rent on a tenant after 6 months by 4%, and she let me know that she will look for different housing. And if she does move out before 12 months, I can keep her move in fee.

I am not predatory and I don't want to be shady to any of my tenants, but I realize that I could take advantage of them and they might not understand what this type of agreement entails. But it can also be a good alternative that I offer month to month instead of a typical lease, and they have to be aware the rent can be increased with the proper notice. Anyway, just my thoughts and wanted to see what comments the community had about my rental agreement.

[Dennis M.]

Well You can say it’s not predatory but it is in essence . Basically Your trapping them and that is shady business by being darned if you do and darned if they don’t . Nothing to be proud of